Hangzhou, September 9 (ZXS) -- Starting from the 24-meter butterfly, Zhang Yufei looks forward to becoming a better version of herself
China News Agency reporter Hao Lingyu Hu Jian
On the evening of the 24th, in the women's 200m butterfly swimming final of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Zhang Yufei successfully defended her title with a time of 2:05.57 to break the Asian Games record, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese swimmers.
This gold medal is only the beginning of Zhang Yufei's road to winning gold at this Asian Games. In fact, before the competition, she set herself a "big goal": to win 7 gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games and win the "Most Valuable Athlete" of this Asian Games.
This goal reflects the determination of China's "butterfly queen" to look forward to more breakthroughs. After experiencing a brief downturn after the Tokyo Olympics, Zhang Yufei, who entered 2023, gradually showed her skills in the competition. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Zhang Yufei won 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronzes, breaking the world championship record in 100.56 seconds in the women's 12m butterfly, and won a gold medal.
This is Zhang Yufei's first individual gold medal at the World Championships, which not only tests her efforts in mentality adjustment and technical improvement, but also allows a seed of "surpassing herself" to germinate in her heart.
After returning from the World Championships in Fukuoka, Zhang Yufei became more and more comfortable on the field. Transferred to the Universiade, she won nine battles and nine victories, fully enjoying the joy of competition while riding the wind and waves in the blue waves. After the game, Zhang Yufei's ridicule about "too many medals to fit in the cabinet" once appeared on the hot search, and she also confessed that she could begin to accept the title of "Queen of Butterflies" given to her by the outside world with peace of mind.
When the horn for the Asian Games sounded, Zhang Yufei showed full confidence. For the first event she will participate in, Zhang Yufei gave her own interpretation: "In the 200-meter butterfly event, the biggest opponent is himself. Because my level in the 200m butterfly is very stable, as long as I swim my own results, no one can win me. ”
The development of the competition was indeed as Zhang Yufei expected. In the women's 24m butterfly heats on the morning of the 200th, Zhang Yufei advanced by a huge advantage of 3.29 seconds ahead of the second place. In the final in the evening, Zhang Yufei started to react quickly, led all the way, and successfully won the championship amid the shouts of the audience.
On September 9, the women's 24m butterfly final of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou was held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Swimming Center. China's Zhang Yufei broke the Asian Games record with a time of 200:2.05. Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita
In this final, Zhang Yufei has become the oldest contestant, but she is not too anxious about it. She bluntly said at the post-game press conference that as she grows older, her psychological endurance and maturity have improved greatly compared with before, and she didn't know what step she would go to when she was young, and after winning the Olympic championship, every step forward was towards a higher "step".
From the perspective of history and project characteristics, swimming is one of the most likely events in the Asian Games to produce "multi-gold kings". According to the competition arrangement, Zhang Yufei will participate in 7 sub-events in this Asian Games.
Starting with the 200m butterfly, Zhang Yufei embarked on a journey to win gold at the Asian Games, and later in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay final, Zhang Yufei won the championship with her teammates and won her second gold. In the eyes of the outside world, there is not much suspense about the ownership of gold medals in many projects registered by China's "Queen of Butterfly". In the contest called Transcendence, Zhang Yufei is bound to attack the set goal and look forward to becoming a better version of himself. (End)